Isha Sesay
MORE than 300 hotels in Mallorca will reopen in July after receiving a surge in requests for holiday bookings from international tourists.
The Federation of Hotel Businesses in Mallorca (FEHM) revealed that hoteliers have been inundated with requests after tour operators and airlines announced that they would resume flights to the island next month.
The FEHM point out that after discussions with business owners, hotels in Playa de Palma, Alcudia, Can Picafort, Cala Millor, Capdedpera, Palmanova, Magaluf, Muro and Soller will open their doors during the first two weeks of July.
Palma will be one of the areas that will have the most hotels in operation in July, with 25 out of 75 establishments reopening.
Moreover, leading hotel chains such as Iberostar, Riu, Barcelo, and Melia have ‘changed their strategy’ to resume their activity earlier to promote Mallorca as a safe destination and to ‘support workers currently in an ERTE.’
The FEHM have been working closely with the Balearic government alongside other unions such as the Confederation of Business Associations (CAEB) and Federation of Small and Medium Sized Businesses (PIMEM) to ‘revitalise tourism at the earliest possible date.’
“Tourism is a fundamental element in our economy which represents 40% of total employment and accounts for more than 40% in regional GDP,” said a spokesperson for the FEHM.
The U-turn comes after more than 50% of hotels in the Balearic Islands stated their intentions to remain closed until Easter of 2021 during Spain’s lockdown.
This decision was largely due to global travel restrictions and the dramatic change in the habits of travellers, airlines and tour operators since the outbreak of COVID-19.
However, since Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez made the groundbreaking speech that foreign tourists could plan their holidays to Spain from July, those working in the tourism sector have been gearing up to welcome back visitors to the island.
This has also spurred different companies to propose offers to activate the industry, with TUI, Lufthansa and TAP Air Portugal increasing their routes to Spain over the summer.
Photography by Allan Binderup.
